…grayblog…

Category: miscellaneous

  • Alright mate?

    I’ve just had a phone conversation with my business banking manager at the NatWest. He’s the most senior business banking manager for West Sussex. He must also be the only bank manager who starts his phone conversations with "Alright mate?"

  • Question…

    Why is it that when I look to upgrade my phone, the handset that I would like has an upgrade cost of £59.99 when, if I were taking out a new contract, the same handset would be free?

  • Comedy name

    Driving along the M27 this evening, I passed a lorry which bore the name "Pratt’s Bananas". There has to be a joke there somewhere.

  • Blurred

    I’m lacking focus today. Productivity is not high. Any tips?

  • Oh joy

    Looks like the WinXP service pack is currently downloading. Not now, please. Guh.

  • Driving pain

    I’ve driven nearly 900 miles in the last four days – from Tunbridge Wells to Chichester and back, to Calais and back to procure the vino for the wedding reception (there is plenty and it is good, rest assured) and then to Holmes Chapel in Cheshire and back for the Four Oaks trade show. I trundled up and down the M6 Toll (waving to Brian as I went past his neck of the woods), observing that travelling at 75 or 80 mph consigns you to the slow lane, even though the limit is 70mph. If there were cameras at the same frequency as there are on the M25, the local constabulary could net thousands every day. And judging by the frequency of big rubber stripes on the tarmac, there would be justification for installing them.
    I’m sure that there are lots of other utterly fascinating things I could tell you, but I can’t be bothered. But here are a few bullet-point observations:

    • aren’t the streetlamps at Cité de l’Europe in Calais cool?
    • I’ve had a filthy cold for the last few days. I seem to have given it to Hels.
    • I love Jodrell Bank. I like the way that every time you drive past, the telescope is pointing a different direction.
    • House sales and purchase seem to be progressing ok, although I’m being buried under requests for papers that I don’t possess. Thankfully, my solicitor seems to be on the case.
    • If ever you are looking for a hotel in Cheshire, do not book the Saxon Cross in Sandbach. It’s crap – grubby in the extreme, with pathetic showers and mediocre service. Why do we do cheap hotels so badly in the UK compared to our continental cousins? (Not that I consider £50 PLUS extra for breakfast to be cheap!)

    I’m pooped.

  • Showers moving west

    Goodbye to magnetic clouds, and all that. I think this is rather sad, as I’ve grown up with the familiar three-lobed cloud shapes. It’s possible to look at a BBC weather chart and instantly discern the prevailing conditions, without having to read the accompanying text or listen to the forecaster (although one should always listen to Rob McElwee as he is a minor deity after all – "There’s a deep depression moving in from the Atlantic, and we ALL know what that means, don’t we?"). I also wonder if this will mean the end of the traditional opening of the forecast (well, in days of old at least, and occasionally still today) with a North Atlantic synoptic chart – which, for anyone with even a basic A-level grounding in meteorology, provides enough information to get the general gist of how the weather will be.

  • Content

    Too busy still. Spent most of today driving. Now have long forms related to flat sale to complete. Most likely will go for beer shortly.
    No drama to report, so move along.

  • Confused

    Here’s one for Brian. I am no longer sure that it is my telephone that has died. The situation is as follows:

    • current connection set-up – I have the BT home broadband thingy. My telephone (a BT-badged one) is plugged into the back of my answering machine (also by BT) which is then plugged into one of those mousetail adaptor thingies.
    • the symptoms – when anyone dials in, I can barely hear them, and there is an incredibly large amount of noise. If I try to dial out, I can barely hear the dialtone, and there is the same noise. But if anyone dials in and gets my answering machine, they can leave a message without any problems. If I plug my telephone straight into the adaptor – i.e. not through the answering machine – I still get the same noise problems. The broadband connection works with no problems.
    • the puzzle – to my mind, the above symptoms suggest that there is a problem with the telephone. However, being the clever chappy that I am, I thought it wise to check before buying a new one, and today I brought my telephone to the office and plugged it in here. It works fine. And, before you ask, I did try the connection at home with the broadband connection enabled and disabled, and that made no difference.

    So is my phone faulty, or is it the line?

  • Ooops

    I’m struggling to get it together this morning. So far I’ve forgotten my mobile phone and had to drive back two miles to get it. I’ve now remembered that I’ve forgotten something else, but I can live without it. I’ve just been to a meeting – an hour early. Thankfully it was only two minutes down the road, but it caused a bit of a laugh at my expense.
    I really need to get my head together.